Turbine engines, and particularly gas or combustion turbine engines, are rotary engines that extract energy from a flow of combusted gases passing through the engine onto a multitude of rotating turbine blades. Gas turbine engines have been used for land and nautical locomotion and power generation, but are most commonly used for aeronautical applications such as for aircraft, including helicopters. In aircraft, gas turbine engines are used for propulsion of the aircraft. In terrestrial applications, turbine engines are often used for power generation.
Gas turbine engines for aircraft are comprised of compressor stages designed with a plurality of bands of blades rotated by a rotor and bands of static vanes disposed between the blades. The compressor stages compress the air that is then moved to a combustor and a turbine. The compressor blades are disposed adjacent to shroud assemblies, however, a small volume of air passes through a clearance between the blade tip and the shroud. Blade sensitivity to this clearance can reduce efficiency and overall performance of the compressor.